Who were the heroes in the softball league championship games on Thursday night?

Parkland and Southern Lehigh both got convincing shutout wins on Tuesday in their softball league semifinal contests.

On Thursday night at Allentown's Patriots Park, however, things played out differently. Both the Trojans and Spartans fell behind in the top of the first inning of their respective championship games.

But that was the equivalent of poking a sleeping giant in the chest.

Parkland quickly rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 7-2 lead and held on for a 7-5 victory over Liberty in the first Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title game while Southern Lehigh answered an early Bangor run with three in the bottom of the first inning and rolled from there to an 8-1 win in the Colonial League championship game.

The Trojans and Spartans, perhaps the two most renowned programs in Lehigh Valley softball, added to their legacies.

It was Parkland's 18th league crown, the program's second in a row and sixth in the last 13 years.

Southern Lehigh plays Bangor for the Colonial League softball championship.

(CHRIS KNIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

It was Southern Lehigh's 27th league crown, but first since 2011.

In fact, the Spartans seniors were in danger of becoming the first class to graduate without a league championship.

"Not being in the first class to graduate without a title was a big motivating force for us," senior shortstop Danielle Mullin said. "We didn't want to be that class and we didn't let ourselves become that class. It feels great to come out and win get this championship."

But while the seniors celebrated along with many Solehi alumni who returned for the game, it was a freshman who led the way.

Pitcher Danielle Barnes was superb after allowing a first-inning run, tossing a two-hitter. She struck out 10, hit one batter and didn't walk anyone after giving Lexi Kessler a free pass to start the game.

"We did this for the whole team, but especially for the seniors," Barnes said. "I was a little too hyped up at the start and had a little too much energy. But once I calmed down, everything was fine."

Before she found her stride, Barnes watched Bangor take a 1-0 lead as Kessler followed her walk with a stolen base and scored on Dani Fey's single. It proved to be about the only Slaters highlight of the night.

Southern Lehigh got a two-run single from one its seniors, Hannah Docalovich, in the bottom of the first and took advantage of four Slaters errors in the frame to take a 3-1 lead.

The Spartans, who won their 16th straight game, never looked back behind Barnes and an error-free defense.

Bangor, the defending league champs, would commit eight errors in all and the Spartans kept putting the ball in play and running around the bases.

Barnes helped her own cause with three hits, including a triple, and scored three runs.

"The seniors are on a mission, they really are," said coach Brian Neefe. "After losing to Pen Argyl, this group has really come around.

"I felt bad for Bangor because they're better than that. They know it and I know it. I've been on the other end of the stick and know how it feels, but they'll be back and we might see them again."

Neefe has been coaching for 44 seasons, and one thing he never tires of is seeing a championship celebration.

"I love watching 15 kids run out there and jump on top of each other," Neefe said. "It only lasts for 30 seconds, but we work hard for 10 weeks for that moment."

Southern Lehigh (19-3) will be the top seed in the upcoming District 11 3A tournament and will advance straight into the semis.

Bangor (16-6) will likely be playing defending District 11 3A champ Bethlehem Catholic when the tournament begins next week. The Slaters have some things to clean up.

"We made a lot of mistakes and beat ourselves tonight," Slaters coach Rich Kessler said. "Southern Lehigh is a good team. There's no doubt about it. Their pitcher is really good and she has a nice rise and a good changeup. We worked on that, but it wasn't our night."

The first game was much more dramatic as Liberty kept making things interesting. After posting back-to-back 10-0 tournament wins earlier this week, Parkland couldn't seem to put the Hurricanes away.

Liberty collected 10 hits, including three in an interesting top of the seventh.

But the Hurricanes only got one run in that inning as two runners were thrown out on the bases.

One was tagged out at the plate on a botched suicide squeeze.

Another runner was thrown at second when Liberty resorted to a gadget play that had the hitter walk toward first base pretending she had received a walk while a runner at first broke for second trying to catch Parkland napping.

Except Parkland (22-1) wasn't sleeping and recorded the critical out.

Liberty still had a chance late, but ran itself out of a potential big inning and rally. The final out was a line drive by cleanup hitter Kristin Kaleycik snared by Parkland pitcher Aubree Fritzinger.

"I got a little too impatient in the last inning and tried to force things and that's my fault," Liberty coach Sam Carrodo said. "But I'm so proud of the girls. They kept battling. They never stopped. About 15 other teams wished they were in our shoes tonight, but we were here and we deserved this spot."

"It was a great game," Parkland coach Barry Search agreed. "Liberty hung in there and did a fantastic job, but our kids responded. I'm proud of our kids."

Junior Taylor Knappenberger, who set the tone atop the Trojans batting order with two hits and two runs scored, said it was a little different coming up to bat in the bottom of the first and being behind.

"We had to come together as a team and get hits and play good defense," Knappenberger said. "I knew I had to get on anyway I could to get us started. We have been hitting well all season, so we were still very confident."

"We're not afraid to get down and dirty and fight our way back," Varrato said, "We have confidence in our hitting. There are no guarantees in softball and we knew it wasn't over when we got the 7-2 lead. We had to keep playing."

Liberty definitely did.

Victoria Schmidt was 3-for-3, including a triple and a double, and knocked in three for the Hurricanes (17-5), and she also did a nice job in the pitching circle after the first two innings.

However, Parkland made its early attack stand.

In addition to Knappenberger, the other three girls atop the batting order had two hits apiece — Abby Fritzinger, Emma Varrato and Madi Marshall.

Parkland stood around on the field for a long time after the game until it finally received its gold medals. The Trojans will also wait to get into action in the upcoming District 11 4A tournament, getting a first-round bye.

The district tournament bracket will be released on Sunday.

"This was good for us to get this kind of game," Search said. "We now see the kind of competition we're going to face from here on out."